Furbolg ideas
One of the most likely possible races (in the author's mind) as put forward by fans for the Burning Crusade Expansion is thought to be furbolgs. =Classes= A few of the suggested classes are stated thus: Priest This would logical for a number of reasons; Furbolgs are meant to be monastic therefore religious. Furthermore, the Furbolgs in the Night Elf Campaign refer to Elune and praise her, so it is likely that some cult of Elune exists within Furbolg Culture. However, for faction balance reasons, it seems unlikely that Blizzard would add yet another priest class option to the Alliance, especially when there is no real precedent set in the lore. Rogue This is more to do with monks than assassins. There are a number of reasons why a furbolg would become a rogue: corruption, adaption to their shadowy cave environment, guerrilla warfare (logical) or alternative monk fighting methods etc. Use your imagination. Anyway, this wouldn't be as stupid as it sounds. Furbolgs are not actually an enormous race like the Tauren, rather just around human/NE height. They may be wide, but not too much more than an Orc. Just imagine the look on the enemy's face when a giant bear wearing black materialises behind them... However, on balance, the Horde does have fewer rogues than the Alliance, and so it would not be without the bounds of balance or reason to not feature rogues as a Furbolg class choice. Druid This is obvious, due to the nature loving spirituality of the Furbolgs and the presence of Rejuvination and Faerie Fire as Furbolg spells in Warcraft III. Druidism could be used as a "stand in" for shamanism, which cannot be featured as a Furbolg class. Furthermore, the Alliance has (comparatively) fewer hybrid class options (it has three - one druid and two paladins) compared to the Horde (that has one druid and three shaman options.). By adding another druid option to the Alliance, this would be balanced. Warrior Furbolg have a long warrior tradition, and all races in World of Warcraft can become warriors anyway. Hunter The Furbolg trapper is a unit in Warcraft III. This, combined with the hunter-gatherer culture that the Furbolgs exhibit indicates that hunting will be of great importance to Furbolg culture. Warlock This represents the corruption seeping from Felwood. The Furbolgs aren't all a kind and nature-loving race, and some may prefer to go against the teachings of their totemic gods. Alternatively, the Furbolg Warlock may think that the only way to save their race is to willfully embrace the enemy as their allies. The problem is how to fit them on felseeds - I suppose a minor increase in size may suffice. Furthermore, the Horde stand to gain a warlock race option (Blood Elves), so the Alliance should too to prevent imbalance. =What have they got going for them?= There are several factors that suggest this as the most likely race: 1 Furbolgs used to be the strongest allies of the Night Elves until the Burning Legion corrupted most of them. Those Furbolgs that were corrupted became aggressive and feral. Few escaped corruption, but some tribes did - like the Timbermaw. It is noted that some furbolgs in game say the Timbermaw are the only tribe that escaped corruption. However these Timbermaw Furbolgs have been trapped in their hold for years and it is not without the realms of possiblity that other tribes may have survived, unknown to the Timbermaws. Besides, bending the lore in such a way would be a minor sacrifice, considering there is a plausible excuse and the other positive aspects to Furbolgs being a player race. Why would the player Furbolgs be uncorruped? For one, they would be in Hyjal, up in the mountains. The Timbermaw live up in the mountains, which could be the reason for their purity. In addition to this, the generic pro-life ethos of the Furbolgs fits in with that of the Alliance. 2 In an interview with Gamespy - Chris Metzen stated: "Your first reaction will be "WHAT!?!?" but then you'll say, "I guess that makes sense." For the Furbolgs, the "WHAT!?!?" will be due to the fact that the Timbermaw in Felwood are apparently the only surviving tribe - and we know they won't ally with the Alliance. The "I guess that will make sense" is when they tell you that another has been hiding away on Hyjal before coming out of the shadows to ally with their old friends, the Night Elves... Furthermore, the "WHAT!?!?" factor could be that Furbolgs don't fit with the Alliance. They are wild, uncivilised (at least, compared to the other races of the Alliance) and shamanistic. However, when their position, savage nobility and friendship with the Night Elves is made clear, it will make sense. There have also been numerous other clues, such as unnecessary obstacles in the way of the Draenei (their homesickness), the use of a pine-forest as a placeholder for the Alliance race's portrait on the Burning Crusade Homepage, the large number of Furbolgs that are purified in Alliance quests, the lack of use of Hyjal and Timbermaw Hold (in Azshara). 3 Hyjal has been confirmed as a raid instance. That is, a 'past battleground' in the Caverns of Time in the Expansion. The 'current' Hyjal would be used as the furbolgs starter area. There is, as well as this, a large 'grey' area below Hyjal which could be remodelled or possibly even made into an underground secondary area (levels 10 to 20) before opening into Ashenvale somewhere around Xavian, a nice 20+ area for the wee furbolgs to scamper round in. 4 The Horde are getting a 'pretty race'. Therefore, so as not to cancel out the effects of this race (namely the influx of young players over to the Horde faction), it would make sense for the Alliance to have an 'ugly race'. The furbolgs would therefore fit perfectly. Furbolgs are the only feasible race that is "ugly" in the same way as the Horde. This has recently been denied by Blizzard in a gamespot interview, where they claim that the new Alliance race will be "cool". It is worthy of note that Blizzard usually only picks races on a basis of either being "cool" - in the sense of being similar to a popular fantasy creature or a real life race - or "pretty". Therefore, it is likely that whatever the Alliance race is, it will be associated with a popular, real-life group or entity (as no popular fantasy races are particularly similar to any of options for the Burning Crusade.). Some people are "furry" fans who would enjoy the idea of playing as cute and fuzzy anthropomorphic animals. Furbolg might fit the bill of providing a "different" if not "ugly" race that appeals to that subset of players. 5 They are a race in need of a graphical overhaul - or at least another model. So far, there has only been one furbolg model used to cover over a hundred different furbolgs in the world. They are a common race, but with only one model between them, reality and a loincloth stretches pretty thin... 6 They are proven to be a relatively advanced, albeit savage race - maybe even moreso than the Tauren. Evidence of this includes: Masonry Timbermaw Hold, a tunnel carved out of solid rock and lined with wood. Also, the three enormous bear-headed wood and stone entrances to Timbermaw Hold in Felwood, Moonglade and Winterspring. Linguistic skills The furbolg 'Krolg' in Ashenvale is perfect evidence of this. Carpentry and craftsmanship The furbolg huts, carvings, mats, dream catchers and miscellania at all furbolg villages. 7 One of the points often stated as a reason against the inclusion of furbolgs is the fact that they are shamanic - a Horde class. This may be true, but there is a certain amount of confusion here: furbolgs have somewhat different practices to the Shamans of the Horde. This is highlighted by the furbolg shaman's druidic abilities in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. 8 Design issues are no problem - the problems encountered with furbolgs need not be any more difficult than those experienced by Taurens in the making of World of Warcraft. They in fact have a rather similar physiology to the Tauren - the hump, the fur... 9 Furbolgs would add a much needed str. and sta. based race to the Alliance. 10 Furbolg classes will redress the lack of hunters and hybrids in the Alliance, while not making the lack of priests and rogues in the Horde worse (priests and rogues are not necessary as Furbolg classes: - they could just have Warlocks, Hunters, Druids, Warriors.). 11 Furbolgs would involve the production of a bear-like model file that could be theoretically used to produce Pandaren NPCs. 12 Furbolgs have had ample time to set up their own city and repopulate a starting region. 13 Furbolgs usefully could accompany the introduction of the Emerald Dream as a questing area. 14 Furbolgs wouldn't have insanely-strong racial abilities - Draenei for example have permanent invisibility. 15 Furbolgs have a higher capacity for RP variety - Try and imagine a Cenarion as a drunken pirate and you can see what I mean. 16 There will one day be a battleground in Azshara. The entrances for both factions have been placed in Azshara, though the actual battleground does not yet exist. There are also both Furblog and Blood Elf encampments in relatively close proximity in Azshara. As the Blood Elves are the confirmed Horde race, this placement could set up the primary conflict in the new Azshara battleground. 17 Currently, there is three races of one faction, and one of the opposing faction, per continent: Three Alliance and one Horde on the Eastern Kingdoms, and three Horde and one Alliance upon Kalimdor. Blizzard (most likely) wishes to maintain this balance across the two continents, so adding an additional Horde race on the Eastern Kingdoms would therefore yield an additional Alliance race upon Kalimdor. The most likely of Furbolg starting locations, Hyjal, is located upon Kalimdor. Also, the Blood Elves' capital city is located nearby the Forsaken's own capital, so in maintaining that same balance, the new Alliance race would seem best placed nearby the Night Elves. Who better to start in close proximity to the Night Elves then their past allies, the Furbolgs? Hyjal is but a stone's throw away from elven lands, so this balance would remain intact. 18 There has been speculation about C`Thun being the taint affecting the Furbolgs in Feralas, C`Thun would not need to be the only corrupter, there are of course three other Old Gods rumoured to be imprisoned under the Tirisfal Glades or nearby Quel`Thalas. With C`Thuns death in Ahn`Quiraj the furbolgs could have broken free of the Old Gods grip. This would mean a possible boost to the Timbermaw factions population. 19 The trolls come from one tribe so why cant the furbolgs also come from just one tribe =Over Other Races= Finally, reasons why it seems more logical over other races: Dryads * Too much work for Blizzard creating EVERYTHING. * Too similar to Night Elves. * Too difficult and unvaried to RP. * Too few Children of Cenarius to ever really count. If a race like this was created, it would look stupid. * Can you honestly see a guardian of nature in full plate armour? Neither can I. Draenei * Allied to the Blood Elves. Also speculated to be 'like the US army allying with the gypsies'. * Have little common ground with the Alliance, save hatred of the orcs. * Are "alien" - something the Alliance races have a bad track record for dealing with. * Don't fit into areas that need a new city. * Are the "obvious" choice - therefore they won't be shocking as Blizzard stipulates the new race will be (see above). * Their racial ethos is antithetical to Alliance mores. * They get incredibly homesick from leaving Draenor. * They are too ugly to fit Vivendi's requirements. * They won't address faction imbalances. * Have overpowered innate racial abilities. * They would provide intelligence and an incentive about going to Outland, but the Alliance doesn't need much of either. * Difficult to RP There has also been a thread on the WoW forums: http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-general-en&T=635857&P=1 Furthermore, a recent interview with Jeffrey Kaplan, a lead designer onGamespot tell us that "JK: With the Alliance race, our goal wasn't to make an "ugly" race. Our goal was to make a "cool" race. We thought of races that fit into the Warcraft lore and complemented the Alliance. We also thought of races that fit this particular expansion, The Burning Crusade, and the Outland and started from there. But from the beginning, we wanted to pick something cool. At the end of the day, we needed to approach it as a player and ask ourselves, "Would I want to play that race?" Personally, I am very excited about our choice." This quote could indicate that Blizzard considered the Burning Crusade factor - the importance of the new race coming from Outland - but were forced to ignore this factor in order to produce a race that is "cool". Now, whether or not the Furbolgs are the "cool" race in question is a purely speculative matter, and one biased probably by ones own aesthetic and cultural views, but this quote does seem to indicate that the Alliance race will not be from Outland. Combined with the fact that Caydiem corrected herself by saying that she did not mean that the new race did come from Outland in her now famous reply to the Tigon petition, it seems likely that the new race will be Azerothian in origin. Of the Azerothian races remaining, the Furbolgs are one of the front-runners.